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Afterwards

by Rosamund Lupton (Goodreads Author)

3.79 · Rating details · 14,255 Ratings · 1,755 Reviews

There is a fire and they are in there. They are in there...

Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and rush. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her.

Afterwards Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her children from the person who's still int ...more

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Hardcover, 386 pages

Published April 24th 2012 by Crown (first published 2011)

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Aug 03, 2011 Simon Lipson added it · review of another edition

As abysmal as Sister was readable. For a start, the protagonists are bloody angels or spirits or something, telling the story (too dull to precis here, but it's about who was responsible for burning a public school down - good riddance to it, I say) whilst their corporeal selves lie comatose in hospital having been injured in the blaze. I thought this madness would resolve itself in something satisfyingly realistic, but no, it appears Ms Lupton is happy for her 'spirits' to communicate with each ...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Linda rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I'm afraid i was really disappointed with this, Sister was fantastic but this certainly wasn't. The mother-and-daughter-as-disembodied-spirits just didn't work for me, Grace talking to her hubby was really irritating and sometimes i wasn't even sure WHO she was meant to be addressing! There was far too much gushing sentimentality, very corny lines and why so much overuse of italics?? I didn't care about any of the characters either and all these things combined made this a bit of a slog. Maybe i ...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Jessie (Ageless Pages Reviews) rated it liked it

Shelves: general-and-literary-fiction, mystery, netgalley-arc, reviewed, 2012-reviews, 2012-reads, contemporary-fiction, arc, emotional-whiplash, curious-and-curiouser, the-meh-is-strong-with-this-one

Read This Review And More Like It On My Blog!

3.25 out of 5

Afterwards was a lot of things for me: frustrating, alienating, weird, intriguing, and eventually, quite moving. There's a lot of hype built around this newish author, largely due to the wild success and continued love for her first novel, Sister. With that in mind, I went into this sophomore effort with high hopes that were never quite met. There's a lot of potential in this novel about mothers and daughters, love, and independence but i ...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Hannah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was a good story, on the face of it, as long as you don't look too closely. Lupton is really good at getting across emotions, especially love, and the book is really touching as a result.

But as I said, you can't look too closely. Too many characters are under-developed and when you find out who the arsonist is you are supposed to just accept that she is a totally different person to the one originally portrayed, without any convincing explanation. This made me feel cheated.

I could deal This book was a good story, on the face of it, as long as you don't look too closely. Lupton is really good at getting across emotions, especially love, and the book is really touching as a result.

But as I said, you can't look too closely. Too many characters are under-developed and when you find out who the arsonist is you are supposed to just accept that she is a totally different person to the one originally portrayed, without any convincing explanation. This made me feel cheated.

I could deal with the "out of body" experience in itself, but there was no detail explaining why or how it was happening. Like: Why can't they see other spirits of comatose people? Why don't they even wonder about this? It is a hospital after all. How do they get inside cars? No one's holding the door open so do they pass through objects? If so why do they need to wait for lifts? Why does it hurt so much when they go outside?

On top of these things was the totally obvious lack of research which really infuriated me. So many things were just plain wrong in this novel, which would be apparent to anyone who can use Google.

For example:

1) The age of criminal responsibility is 10. Therefore an eight-year-old can't be cautioned for arson. The police talking about deciding not to press charges because Adam had "suffered enough" is just a nonsense. The school also "decides" not to press charges, which makes no sense.
2) A local newspaper hints than Mr Hyman pushed a kid out a window, and the same newspaper implies he started the fire at the school. He had nothing to do with either event and a local paper simply would not imply such things without getting sued for libel, they are incredibly cautious because they can't afford not to be. National tabloids may be more risque but not to this extent, it's total nonsense.
3) Tara is apparently a local reporter, but she also decides where things go in the newspaper, what the headlines are and deals with a police officer who comes to the office to ask questions. She is therefore also the paper's editor, sub-editor and news editor.

There are so many more things that continued to rile me throughout that just showed Lupton could not be bothered to look into what she was writing about. She decided instead to work off stereotypes of police officers, journalists, teenagers etc.

She has obvious talent as a writer but these factual errors kept punching me in the face throughout and it just wound me up that she didn't put a bit of effort into making the story at least seem authentic. ...more

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Apr 12, 2014 Lela rated it really liked it

What a strange concept. I rather like it as an idea to consider as possible. There was too much drama & repetition & the culprit was pretty obvious to me all the time. Some folks say they had trouble following the pronouns/characters but it seemed clear enough to me. Maybe you need a muddled mind to follow it! However, I turned the pages as fast as I could and I lost sleep (lots of sleep....all sleep) finishing it. Not really as good as her book, "Sister," but still a very good read!!

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Apr 26, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it it was amazing

I read Rosamund Lupton's debut novel 'Sister' last year. You may remember me raving about it - it was a fantastic read. I jumped at the chance to read her second novel - Afterwards. Another absolutely brilliant read - one I would highly, highly recommend!

I was hooked from the opening paragraph of the prologue.

"I couldn't move, not even a little finger or a flicker of an eye. I couldn't open my mouth to scream....Only one thing for it, I said to myself, thinking of you, and I slipped out of the I read Rosamund Lupton's debut novel 'Sister' last year. You may remember me raving about it - it was a fantastic read. I jumped at the chance to read her second novel - Afterwards. Another absolutely brilliant read - one I would highly, highly recommend!

I was hooked from the opening paragraph of the prologue.

"I couldn't move, not even a little finger or a flicker of an eye. I couldn't open my mouth to scream....Only one thing for it, I said to myself, thinking of you, and I slipped out of the wrecked ship of my body into the black ocean."

Grace Covey is volunteering at the outdoor sports day at her son Adam's private school. Her older child Jenny is working inside as the school nurse that day. When a fire breaks out, Grace races to find her children. Knowing Jenny is still trapped in the building, Grace runs into the burning building. She finds her, but the two of them are terribly injured. Cue prologue. Yes, Grace and Jenny are able to leave their ruined bodies. Now, anyone thinking this might be a mainly paranormal type of read is wrong.

Honestly, Afterwards is so many different reads. In the beginning I saw it strictly as a mystery. Grace and Jenny are able to follow along with the investigation into the fire - for it was arson. And Grace and Jenny cannot communicate with the 'outside' world. Piece by piece, along with the victims, we are able to cobble together what really happened that day. There is much more to this fire than meets the eye. Lupton employs many twists and turns and some red herrings along the way that kept me guessing at the identity of the 'culprit' until the last few chapters.

But, in addition to the mystery is the deeper story - that of a mother, daughter, son, husband and father. Grace's love for her children is achingly beautiful, powerful and so poignant. (Hint - have tissues ready for the last few chapters - I finished the book with tears in my eyes)

Lupton uses a second person point of view that takes a bit of getting used to in the beginning, but it works for this story. I can't see it being told in any other fashion. Once I finish writing a review, I head out on the net to see what others think. I was quite surprised to see there were mixed reviews on this book. For this reader, it was an absolutely addicting, stay up late read.

...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Rebecca McNutt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, crime, mystery, fiction, family

Disturbing and dark, yet a powerful story of family loyalty, Afterwards is full of suspense, mystery and terror.

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Jul 24, 2011 Rebecca rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I can't even finish this book. Sister was really good. This is awful. I skipped to the end to see what happens (something I've done many times) but the ends didn't seem to justify the turgid writing I would need to endure to get there. OK, it wasn't turgid, but just so difficult to read! A floating spirit wife talking to "you", her husband whilst trying to uncover a mystery that is just plain nasty? It was hard to maintain just who was being discussed at any time. It's left a bad taste in my mou ...more

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Feb 17, 2014 Vaso rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It was the first book I 've read from the author and I liked it.
It starts as a mysterry-crime novel, but it turns out to so much more. There is enough drama and you also see what most of the characters in this book think about their family and what they do to help/protect them-even if it is morally wrong.

Perhaps, because being a mother, I think there will be nothing I wouldn't do to protect and keep my children safe and happy..

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Jul 31, 2017 Margitta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, crime, thriller, read-in-2017, library

Malo neobicna krim.prica.
Majka i kcerka su nastradale u pozaru,u skoli i obadvije su u komi,na aparatima.
Dok policija istrazuje slucaj,majka i kcerka su prisutne kao duhovi.
Prisluskuju razgovore,pokusavaju otkriti krivca za pozar,nastoje se prisjetiti svih detalja tog nesretnog dana,lutaju bolnickim hodnicima...

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Sep 22, 2011 Brian added it · review of another edition

Warning: I shouldn't have read this. It's not my kind of novel and this is by no means an unpartial review.

I hugely disliked the central character and she is pretty much what this book is all about. What I found so objectionable was her outlook on life. It's summed up neatly in this extract in which she talks about how she felt when she first met her husband.

'In that prim little tea shop you told me that you were desperate to be away from the confines of university and out there doing 'stuff'. Warning: I shouldn't have read this. It's not my kind of novel and this is by no means an unpartial review.

I hugely disliked the central character and she is pretty much what this book is all about. What I found so objectionable was her outlook on life. It's summed up neatly in this extract in which she talks about how she felt when she first met her husband.

'In that prim little tea shop you told me that you were desperate to be away from the confines of university and out there doing 'stuff'. I didn't know anyone who used the word 'stuff'. I'd done a year of Art History and then a term of an English degree and had never once used the word. My friends were black-clothed, earnest arts students with a thesaurus for a vocabulary.

'I liked the word 'stuff'. And I liked it that you weren't pale with cheekbones studying Kant but were muscular and robust and wanted to be mountaineering and canoeing and white-water rafting and abseiling and bivouacking the world rather than reading and philosophising about it'
(End of quote)

So she's clever and she's arty, but she likes her men hunky and not too bright. Isn't that a bit odd? Perhaps that really is how lots of women are. I hope not. All I know is that she would hate me for my bookishness, not to mention my lack of enthusiasm for mountaineering, and that knowledge entirely alienates me from her character. Yet the whole drive of the book is about empathising with this character and the suffering she endures.

I can't empathise because nothing she says rings true to me. Take those 'black-clothed, earnest arts students with thesauruses for vocabularies' for example - what planet do they come from? I certainly never encountered anyone like them at university.

I also suspect that the author deliberately positioned this book as the story of a middle-class wife who is overtaken by tragedy, a tragedy she doesn't deserve. But the character is so very smug that I didn't feel any sense of unfairness.

I should admit that I didn't finish reading this book. Maybe the central character learns a lot and becomes a nicer person. I just wasn't able to get through enough of the story to find out. Consequently, this review is absolutely worthless except perhaps as an object lesson in how to irritate a certain kind of male reader. ...more

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Feb 10, 2014 Cher rated it it was ok

Shelves: bookclub, mystery-thriller

2 stars - Meh. Just ok.

This book starts off with a fascinating premise - a mother and daughter that are close to death after a tragic accident, are both in bodiless spirit forms, are lucky enough to find one another in the hospital where they can communicate together. Sadly, that was the only fascinating thing about this novel, which is essentially a family dynamics drama with a mystery thrown in as a subplot.

Parenting, parenting, parenting. If you relish in exploring every literary context pos ...more

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Aug 14, 2013 Cleo Bannister rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Afterwards is not a conventional story being narrated by Grace a woman who has left her body in a hospital bed. Grace is in a coma but her supernatural self is on a mission to find out who started the fire which she and her beloved daughter Jenny were so terribly injured. Jenny has also left her badly burnt body in intensive care unit and together unseen by anyone else they set about piecing together the events that led up to the fire, on sports day at a prestigious private school.

This book has ...more

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Dec 01, 2013 Debbie "DJ" rated it really liked it

Shelves: thriller-mystery, fiction

This book just sucked me in from the first page. I would give it a 4.5 stars. There are just so many layers to this book. The central theme involves a fire started at a school, ruled arson, that leaves two critically injured. Those two turn out to be mother and daughter. The story focuses on this family and who could have wanted to burn down the school. As it turns out, while mother and daughter are near death they are able to leave their bodies and communicate with one another. They are also pi ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Len rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I've enjoyed this book. Another great literary work by Rosamund Lupton.

The POV is a wonderful idea coming from a person the other characters can't see. I don't want to include spoilers here. I loved Sister by Rosamund Lupton and this one is as impressive and as powerful as her first novel.

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Oct 19, 2012 Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου rated it really liked it

Αν κάτι λάτρεψα στην Rosamund Lupton, είναι η ικανότητά της να πλάθει αστυνομικές ιστορίες οι οποίες δεν μοιάζουν με καμία άλλη απ' όσες κατά καιρούς διαβάζουμε. Ο λόγος; Ότι σε πρώτο επίπεδο καταπιάνεται με το αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα, στήνοντας την πλοκή και την δράση της ιστορίας της πάνω σε αυτήν την φιλοσοφία, εμπλουτίζοντάς το σε δεύτερο επίπεδο με την δύναμη και την σημασία που έχουν οι βαθύτεροι, οικογενειακοί δεσμοί. Και αν στο "Στα Ίχνη Σου..." αξιοποίησε την ιδέα της αληθινής αδελφικής Αν κάτι λάτρεψα στην Rosamund Lupton, είναι η ικανότητά της να πλάθει αστυνομικές ιστορίες οι οποίες δεν μοιάζουν με καμία άλλη απ' όσες κατά καιρούς διαβάζουμε. Ο λόγος; Ότι σε πρώτο επίπεδο καταπιάνεται με το αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα, στήνοντας την πλοκή και την δράση της ιστορίας της πάνω σε αυτήν την φιλοσοφία, εμπλουτίζοντάς το σε δεύτερο επίπεδο με την δύναμη και την σημασία που έχουν οι βαθύτεροι, οικογενειακοί δεσμοί. Και αν στο "Στα Ίχνη Σου..." αξιοποίησε την ιδέα της αληθινής αδελφικής αγάπης, στο "Στις Στάχτες" βασίζεται σε έναν ακόμα πιο ισχυρό δεσμό, αυτόν μεταξύ μάνας και κόρης, χωρίς όμως να μένει αποκλειστικά σε αυτόν, περιλαμβάνοντας το σύνολο των προεκτάσεων των συναισθημάτων μέσα σε μια δεμένη οικογένεια και τις συνέπειες που μπορεί να είχε η κατάρρευση της εύθραυστης ευτυχίας της.

Κατά την διάρκεια των αθλητικών εκδηλώσεων ενός ιδιωτικού σχολείου, μια μεγάλη πυρκαγιά ξεσπά στο σχολικό κτίριο. Η Γκρέις, μια 39χρονη μητέρα ενός 8χρονου αγοριού, του Άνταμ, και μιας έφηβης κόρης, της Τζένι, μπαίνει μέσα στο φλεγόμενο κτίριο συνειδητοποιώντας πως η δεύτερη βρίσκεται ακόμα μέσα σε αυτό, πιθανόν παγιδευμένη, αδυνατώντας να βγει έξω. Η προσπάθειά της να σώσει την κόρη της αποδεικνύεται ανέλπιδη καθώς, μάνα και κόρη μεταφέρονται σοβαρά τραυματισμένες στο νοσοκομείο, με την πρώτη να βρίσκεται σε κώμα χωρίς να δείχνει ίχνη εγκεφαλικής λειτουργίας και η δεύτερη, φέροντας εγκαύματα αλλά και θανάσιμους τραυματισμούς στα εσωτερικά της όργανα, με την καρδιά της να απαιτεί μεταμόσχευση αν θέλει να κρατηθεί στη ζωή. Μάνα και κόρη, περιφέρονται ως πνεύματα στο νοσοκομείο παρακολουθώντας τους οικείους τους αλλά και την αστυνομική έρευνα που οδηγεί στο συμπέρασμα πως η φωτιά δεν ήταν αποτέλεσμα ατυχήματος αλλά εμπρησμού. Οι πιθανοί δράστες πολλοί, και η Τζένι ίσως να είναι η μοναδική που έχει την απάντηση στο τι έχει συμβεί πραγματικά χωρίς ωστόσο να μπορεί να ξεκλειδώσει στο μυαλό της την πόρτα που θα την οδηγήσει στα γεγονότα. Κάτι που πρέπει να κάνει σύντομα αν θέλουν να βρεθεί ο πραγματικός ένοχος και η αλήθεια να βγει στο φως.

Το πιο έξυπνο στοιχείο στην αφήγηση της συγγραφέως δεν είναι το γεγονός ότι το πνεύμα της Γκρέις αφηγείται την ιστορία στον άντρα της, άσχετα από ότι δεν μπορεί να την ακούσει αλλά, το ότι καθώς τα γεγονότα που ακολουθούν το ατύχημα τρέχουν, με τα κομμάτια του παζλ να ενώνονται σταδιακά όσο οι λεπτομέρειες γύρω από την φύση της φωτιάς αποκαλύπτονται, εκείνη κάνει αναδρομές στην κοινή τους οικογενειακή πορεία, ανασύροντας από το βάθος του μυαλό τους αναμνήσεις, άλλοτε μικρές και άλλοτε μεγάλες, άλλοτε σημαντικές και άλλοτε όχι τόσο πολύ. Αυτό έχει ως αποτέλεσμα ακόμα και ο πιο μέσος αναγνώστης να δέχεται συναισθηματικά με τους ήρωες και να υιοθετεί την επιτακτική τους ανάγκη να βρεθεί ο ένοχος, σαν να πρόκειται για δικιά του υπόθεση. Φυσικά το γεγονός ότι τόσο η Γκρέις όσο και η Τζένι ζουν μια εξωσωματική εμπειρία δεν μπορεί να περάσει απαρατήρητο, πηγαίνοντας την ιστορία ένα βήμα παραπέρα, ακροβατώντας ανάμεσα στο ρεαλιστικό και το μεταφυσικό με έναν τρόπο που κανείς μας δεν μπορεί να αποδείξει αν ισχύει ή όχι αλλά που την ίδια στιγμή, ελπίζουμε και ευχόμαστε.

Όπως ίσως αντιλαμβάνεστε διαβάζοντας όλα τα παραπάνω, η αστυνομική πλοκή μπαίνει σε δεύτερη μοίρα, με τους δεσμούς της οικογένειας να έχουν πρωταρχικό ρόλο, παρ' όλα ταύτα, είναι πάντα εκεί. Με σταθερό ρυθμό, έρχονται στο φως στοιχεία που οδηγούν σταδιακά στην αποκάλυψη της αλήθειας, όχι μόνο όσον αφορά την υπόθεση του εμπρησμού που έχει οδηγήσει ένα μόλις βήμα πριν τον θάνατο δύο ανθρώπους αλλά, και άλλως υποθέσεων που με τον έναν ή τον άλλον τρόπο, αποδεικνύεται πως σχετίζονται μεταξύ τους αλλά και με την καλά κρυμμένη αλήθεια πίσω από το πρόσωπο κάθε ευτυχισμένης και υποθετικά πάντα, χωρίς προβλήματα οικογένειας. Οι ισορροπίες είναι εξαιρετικά λεπτές θυμίζοντάς μας πως, ότι λάμπει δεν είναι χρυσός και πως πίσω από τα πιο μικρά πράγματα, μπορεί να βρίσκονται καλά κρυμμένες οι μεγαλύτερες και οι πιο τρομακτικές αλήθειες που περιμένουν να γίνει εκείνο, το ανεπαίσθητο λάθος που μπορεί να γκρεμίσει κάθε τείχος προστασίας, όσο καλά χτισμένο κι αν είναι.

Η γραφή της Rosamund Lupton είναι απλά συγκλονιστική, για ακόμα μια φορά, αποδεικνύοντας περίτρανα πως ακόμα και το πιο κλισέ λογοτεχνικό είδος μπορεί να γίνει ξεχωριστό και ανατρεπτικό, απλά και μόνο κάνοντάς το δικό μας. Μια αστυνομική ιστορία με δράση, μυστήριο και ανατροπές, που οδηγεί σε μια συγκλονιστική ανακάλυψη, όχι μόνο για τον εμπρησμό και τα θύματά του αλλά, και για την ενδοοικογενειακή βία που μπορεί να γίνει πολύ πιο περίπλοκη απ' όσο ίσως πιστεύουμε. Και πάνω απ' όλα, η ιστορία μιας ευτυχισμένης οικογένειας που βρίσκεται εν μέσω του κυκλώνα μιας τραγωδίας, χωρίς ωστόσο να καταφεύγει σε φτηνούς μεγαλοδραματισμούς, τονίζοντας πως η δύναμη της αγάπης μέσα στην οικογένεια, πολύ περισσότερο της μητρικής απέναντι στα παιδιά της, είναι ότι πιο όμορφο, δυνατό, ειλικρινές και ανιδιοτελές μπορεί να υπάρξει και πως ότι κι αν συμβεί, δεν σβήνει, δεν χάνεται. Είναι πάντα εκεί, ακόμα και ως θύμηση, ως σκέψη, ως φάντασμα για να κρατάει ζωντανά τα αρώματα και τα χρώματα, τις μνήμες και τα αγγίγματα, προστατεύοντάς την με όποιο κόστος που ποτέ δεν είναι μεγάλο, ποτέ δεν είναι αρκετό. ...more

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Aug 05, 2017 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: top-twenty

I am so glad Rosamund Lipton became a novelist. I absolutely loved her first book 'Sister' and loved her second one, 'Afterwards' just as much. She touches so well on the depth of relationships and love, in this instance, mainly a mother and her daughter, but the complexity goes so much further. Her novels are powerful and unique and I can't wait to read her next one. She has become one of my favourite authors and I would highly recommend her novels to anyone.

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Dec 13, 2012 Kris Irvin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Holy. Crap.

This book just skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list. Have I ever read a book so intense and moving as Afterwards? No. No I have not. I kid you not my friends, this book - the last page, I cried. I have never actually sobbed during a book before. This one killed me. It broke my heart.

And it was a beautiful agony.

Now for the bad parts - it's very, very British, which I happen to adore, but I know some Americans can't translate to our cousins across the Pond. If you don't have a ...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Lisa rated it really liked it

Just finished this book, had enjoyed Sister so though i would try this. Its quite strange at times but actually i did enjoy it a lot. I literally could not put this book down, just had to know what happened next.

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Apr 20, 2012 Amy rated it it was amazing

I don't know how to discuss Afterwards, by Rosamund Lupton, because it defies categorization.

On the one hand, and at its most basic, it is a mystery. Grace runs into a burning school building to rescue her daughter Jenny, who is trapped inside. As Grace and Jenny recover from their wounds, Grace learns that the fire was arson, and she sets out to discover who is to blame.

But this book is so much more.

It is the story of parents. Grace and her husband, Michael, have 17-year-old Jenny and 8-year-ol ...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Nikki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am seriously loving this author at the moment! I really enjoyed Sister; such a captivating tale of two sisters love. As a girl who only has one sister I found the whole story incredibly moving and what an amazingly shocking ending.
Now Lupton has released her second novel Afterwards and it's another heart wrenching story! This time focused around a mother's love and the million different emotions that includes. Somehow through this storyline she has woven a crime novel into it as well, with t ...more

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Mar 09, 2017 Georgia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Πρωτότυπο όσον αφορά την αφήγηση αλλά και την ταυτότητα των αφηγητών. Αν και αστυνομικό, δεν εμοιαζε καθόλου με όσα αστυνομικά μυθιστορήματα έχω διαβάσει μέχρι τώρα. Καθόλου προβλέψιμο• τα δεδομένα ανατρέπονταν μέχρι την τελευταία στιγμή. Συνκινητικό.

"Είμαι ένα φως λεπτό σαν αχτίδα και κοφτερό σαν διαμάντι, που μπορεί να γλιστρήσει μέσα από χαραμάδες στον κόσμο που ξέρουμε. Θα έρχομαι στα όνειρά σου και θα σου ψιθυρίζω λόγια γλυκά όταν θα με σκέφτεσαι.
Μπορεί να μην υπάρχει το <<έζησαν αυ ...more

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Apr 21, 2017 Sanja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Divna priča, neobična i emotivna, preporučujem!

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Jul 20, 2012 Elva Kenley rated it did not like it

Although this was a very readable book, in terms of being a page turner with an intriguing whodunnit mystery...I found myself quite irritated most of the time.

Overall I found the whole plot too contrived, the twists and turns were not particularly believable - not because the situations were outrageous or because of the lovely bones-style conceit - but because they didn't seem true to characters. The characterisation seemed to twist out of shape to fit plot contrivances. When the villain is fina ...more

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Jun 15, 2013 Malia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense

This was a very involving book and it drew me in from the very start. On the surface, it seems like a very tragic but simple story, but Rosamund Lupton does a wonderful job moving beyond that. She tells the story through the voice of the mother in spirit form as she goes back and forth in time and memory to discover the truth and understand why what happened happened.
It is difficult to assign this book to a specific genre. It encompasses so many areas, and still really is a story about family. ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Laraemilie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

‘What is there afterwards?’ an existential question Rosamund Lupton has obviously thought about when she chose the title of her new book. Grace is at sports day on a bright and warm summer day. Suddenly, the lovely afternoon turns into a nightmare: the school is on fire, and she knows that her daughter is inside. She runs to rescue her. The police soon find out that it is arson. Who committed that terrible crime? The culprit must be arrested as soon as possible, because Grace’s family is in dang ‘What is there afterwards?’ an existential question Rosamund Lupton has obviously thought about when she chose the title of her new book. Grace is at sports day on a bright and warm summer day. Suddenly, the lovely afternoon turns into a nightmare: the school is on fire, and she knows that her daughter is inside. She runs to rescue her. The police soon find out that it is arson. Who committed that terrible crime? The culprit must be arrested as soon as possible, because Grace’s family is in danger.
The book starts with a flashback explaining the moment the fire started. The readers who have read Rosamund Lupton’s first novel will recognise her style straightaway: simple, nearly oral, and as if she were addressing the reader personally. In Sister, Beatrice describes the events to her sister Tess, using alternatively the first and second person narrative. In Afterwards, it is Grace who tells the story to her husband Mike. We can draw the comparison even further: Tess will never read Beatrice’s story because she died, and Mike might not either, because Grace has become a spirit – hence the title… unless…
This point of view is unique and it was quite a risky decision. Having a spirit as the main character is unusual and is definitely not what you would expect in a crime book. When I first understood that, I must admit I was quite disappointed. I do not mind ghosts or spirits – for example I enjoyed the Lovely Bones – but I just felt it did not fit in the story that well. Fortunately, I soon realised that I was wrong and I hope the readers who are not convinced by this supernatural aspect will manage to suspend their disbelief, because the book is actually worth reading. This point of view gives the author many opportunities and, in my opinion, it adds to the depth of the story. It would be alright to follow the investigation through Mike’s, Sarah’s or the police’s eyes, but it is even better to have Grace and Jenny’s opinions as well, because they have actually experienced the fire. Moreover, we know more about their characters and feelings than if they had just been present in the background, injured at hospital.
I found the beginning rather slow. The contrast between the lovely afternoon at sports day and the ‘afterwards’ – Grace’s and Jenny’s bad injuries, the hospital, the discovery that the fire was started by an arsonist, the constant threat on the family, the stubborn police officers who do not follow the right leads – is very successful. However, it takes a long time until something really significant is discovered and the passages where Grace and Jenny follow the various characters in order to find out the truth are quite repetitive at times. There are also several flashbacks and I must admit I was quite frustrated not to see the investigation move forwards. However, now that I have finished the book, I understand that these sequences were necessary and added to the depth of the story. They help us know more about the character’s past and their feelings and so they are portrayed with many details that are important later in the book.
The twists and turns are amazing and so is the suspense. Rosamund Lupton sends us on a number of leads, but every time we think we have discovered the culprit, another event occurs and changes things completely… and we are mislead until the very last pages, with an amazing coup de théâtre. However, Afterwards is not only about a crime and an investigation. It deals with much more serious themes which are beautifully developed: family love – between brother and sister; between parents and children; between partners – and death for example. We also see how the image we have from someone can be totally biased and inaccurate and how it can be changed when something important happens. The crescendo of the plot is amazing – although I would have preferred a better balance for the pace of the plot between the – slow – beginning and the – quick – end, and the end poignant.
Afterwards is not only a gripping crime with countless twists and turns, but it also encourages reflection on several important themes, making it a rather emotional novel. Be careful, because once you open it, you will surely not be able to put it down until you have finished it.
...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Audra (Unabridged Chick) rated it it was ok

Shelves: so-bad-it-hurts, unfinished, mood-too-inspirational, heroine-unlikable, skeletons-in-the-closet, place-uk, yawn, supernatural, teenage-heroine-but-not-ya

I think if you're a fan of Lovely Bones but want something less inspirational in tone, then this might be your book. Unfortunately, despite my love of the woo-woo and supernatural/paranormal/just-plain-odd, I really didn't click with this book's conceit or the narrator. I made it about one hundred pages and quit, daunted by the remaining 300.

There are a few reasons why this didn't work for me, starting with the heroine, Grace. Or maybe it was the writing style first, and then Grace. Told by Grac ...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Grace Covey is at Adam, her 8 year old son's school for their sports day. Jenny, her 17 year old daughter, is inside, operating as the medical officer for the day. Everyone is having fun, it is hot, when suddenly the fire alarm goes off. The school is on fire, high up, smoke coming from the widely opened windows. Grace races toward the school, then sees Adam outside, being cared for by the daughter of a friend. But Jenny is still inside. She runs flat-out toward the building, then inside and up ...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Cynthia rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

“The last of the senses to go is love.”

I was blown away by Lupton’s “Afterwards”. It’s incredibly inventive and though it’s on the romance side of the mystery genre it wasn’t cloying. Likewise the fantasy or paranormal elements feel believable. The story is told in almost omniscient, first person, present tense by a mother who is a fulltime homemaker. Grace has a son, Adam who’s just turned eight and a beautiful seventeen year old daughter, Jenny. On Adam’s school sports day Jenny is working as ...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Kandice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, books-read-in-2012, suspense

Don't start reading this book until you can read it all the way through to the end. A combination of suspense, mystery, and family drama, this book will stay with you long after it's finished. While I enjoyed Lupton's first novel, I found I couldn't remember much of it later. I sincerely doubt I will forget this story for a long time to come.

Narrated by a mother who rescued her daughter from a burning building, the story weaves in and out as Grace tries to discover who would set fire to a school ...more

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Read It Forward: * AFTERWARDS by Rosamund Lupton	1	40	Feb 27, 2012 01:51PM

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About Rosamund Lupton

Rosamund Lupton is the author of Sister, a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and a bestseller in Europe.

Published in the UK by Little, Brown Book Group, Sister has been translated into over thirty languages and has international sales of over 1.5 million copies. It was the fastest-selling debut of 2010 by a British author, a BBC Radio 4, Book at Bedtime and was winner of the Richard and ...more

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“I'm a sliver-thin light, diamond sharp, that can slip through gaps in the world we know. I will come into your dreams and speak soft words when you think of me. There is no happy ever after - but there is an afterwards.
This isn't our ending.” — 15 likes

“You told me once that the last of the senses to go is hearing. But you're wrong. The last of the senses to go is love.” — 9 likes

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